Ohio has been ranked as the 16th best state for business according to CNBC’s annual Top States for Business rankings. The yearly survey looks at 10 distinct categories ranging from infrastructure and cost of doing business to education and business friendliness and ranks each category with points. Ohio improved five spots in 2017’s poll, up from last year’s rank of 21.
Ohio’s top ranking category is infrastructure, ranking fifth out of all 50 states. That’s improved from last year’s rank of seventh. In fact, Ohio improved in four of the 10 categories and remained the same in another. Ohio’s rank in workforce improved from 43 to 31, infrastructure from seventh to fifth, economy from 22nd to 17th, technology and innovation from 21st to 15th, and remained the same at 37th for business friendliness.
This year, Ohio was beaten by Iowa in 15th place, and just beat out Oregon in 17th place. The survey found Washington to be the top state for business, followed closely by Georgia in second and Minnesota in third. CNBC found the worst state for business to be West Virginia, with Hawaii and Mississippi rounding out the bottom three states.
